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Cerberus Daily News - March 2011
For canon information, see the Mass Effect Wiki page for Cerberus Daily News. This page is for CDN members' non-canon additions. The following stories contributed by Cerberus Daily News forum members were published on the CDN newsfeed during March 2011. See the main Cerberus Daily News page for current updates. March 2011 – Week One 03/01/11 - Krogan stops transport hijacking A representative of the krogan Urdnot clan is being called a hero today, after he stopped the hijacking of a commercial transport that was carrying 132 people. The transport was traveling between Illium and the Citadel when two passengers, a salarian and a turian, drew weapons and demanded the cooperation of passengers and the transport crew. It was at this point that Urdnot Krovis interceded by charging at the hijackers. Despite being shot numerous times, Krovis managed to disarm and disable both individuals. When interviewed by reporters today, Urdnot Krovis, who was traveling back to Tuchanka after conducting clan business, said simply that “They were going to make me late. I hate being late.” Neither hijacker has been identified, but Citadel Authorities report that the salarian was knocked out after being thrown against the transport wall, and is currently in custody and receiving medical treatment. The turian was beaten to death with his own weapon while attempting to fight with Krovis. Alliance Beacon 03/02/11 - Spectre intervenes in C-Sec sting Citadel Security’s Special Response division orchestrated its second major sting operation in an ongoing campaign to prevent organized crime from maintaining its foothold in the recovering Tayseri Ward today — at least, that was the plan. The sting took an unexpected turn when C-Sec was called off mid-operation by an unknown Spectre operative. In an interview with FCC News correspondent Niklaus Westergaard, an eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous described the situation: “There were two of them. An asari and a turian, both armed like they were going off to war. Rifles, grenade launchers. Scared the hell out of me. I don’t know which one of them was the Spectre. Maybe both of them, I don’t know. Never seen them before in my life. Never seen a Spectre, for that matter. First C-Sec surrounded the warehouse and stormed in. About ten minutes later, the two commandos showed up and rushed in. C-Sec ran out and evacuated the entire block. I thought the building was coming down, but no. It’s still there. Looks as good as new, which is great since we just built it last year. I have no idea what happened after the evac.” 03/03/11 - Extremist base destroyed in Afghan DMZ; salarian hostages missing A extremist base in the Afghan DMZ belonging to the Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, a local terrorist group, has been attacked and destroyed by unknown forces. According to an anonymous source with the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission (UNPEM), the once-secret base was built inside of a mountain, located 200 kilometers northeast of the city of Kandahar, and is believed to be where the GEA were holding an eight-member salarian film crew hostage. The source stated that signal drones intercepted calls for reinforcement on known GEA radio frequencies last night at GMT, but by the time UNPEM forces arrived at the base, it had been overrun and destroyed, and there was no sign of the eight salarian hostages. All but one of the tunnels leading into the mountain base were collapsed with high explosives, several stockpiles of arms and ammunition inside were destroyed with heated plasma, and over 200 charred bodies were found in and around the base. According to a classified report obtained by the BBC, DNA records confirm the bodies were those of known GEA members, including that of the GEA’s leader, Abdul Abu Rahman. The report further stated that the extremists had been killed by anti-personnel “shredder” and incendiary rounds, which are illegal within the Afghan DMZ. UNPEM spokesman Col. Jan de Groot refused to comment, stating that the search for the salarian hostages is ongoing. The UNPEM is currently offering a C1 million reward for any information leading to the release of the hostages. BBC Galactic Service 03/04/11 - Alliance MP to wed asari Jeffords Pallone, a member of the Systems Alliance Parliament, announced today that he will be marrying Glada T’Dami at a ceremony on Elysium. Pallone, a senior member of the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, has represented Elysium for the past 15 years. He confirmed that he and T’Dami, a professor of comparative politics at Arcturus College, have been seeing each other for the past five years. Reaction in Parliament has been mixed. MP Leslie Wu, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed her well wishes for the couple, stating that “everyone has to find love where they can.” However, Matthew Auberger, a Terra Firma MP who also serves with Pallone on the Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a blistering statement in which he called for Pallone to give up his committee assignment: “Jeffords Pallone has demonstrated today that he has divided loyalties. He cannot be trusted to make decisions that are in the best interests of the Alliance, so he should not be in a position to oversee Alliance foreign policy.” Alliance Beacon 03/05/11 - Francis Kitt to produce raloi Swan Lake Francis Kitt of elcor Hamlet fame is again breaking new ground in theater. In his latest production of Swan Lake, set to open next weekend, the lead roles of Odette and Odile, the white and black swans, are to be played by raloi. There have been concerns over the actors’ physical and mental health given the rigors of ballet and that the raloi imunobooster is still in trial phases. The production also faces criticism as racist and “clucksploitation” given the spectacle of using avians to play the role of actual birds. Kitt’s response: “They are completely missing the point.” March 2011 – Week Two 03/06/11 -Turian crimelord assassinated on the Citadel Turian crimelord Jomm Harik, a gang leader that sat near the top of C-Sec’s Most Wanted list for the last two years, was found dead today on the Citadel’s Tayseri Ward. His death has been all but confirmed an assassination. “Our investigation is still ongoing, but early reports from our forensics team suggests that Harik was gunned down with a military-grade sniping rifle,” a C-Sec representative explained. “There is an entry wound on each side of Harik’s skull. This suggests two gunmen, or at least two guns. It is a possibility that one was an automated strike drone, if not both of them. One round traveled straight through Harik’s head, creating a large exit wound on the way out. One round did not make it out the other side of the man’s skull. Most likely that round hit first, losing a majority of its velocity on impact with Harik’s kinetic barrier, rendering it unable to pierce the turian’s carapace. The round that left an exit wound hit immediately after the first from an opposing angle, unimpeded by a kinetic barrier and ending Harik’s life.” 03/07/11 -Human sues Salarian Union Mitchell Vigoda, a 53 year old sanitation worker from the Earth city of Philadelphia, has filed a lawsuit against the Salarian Union today. In the lawsuit, Vigoda alleges that salarian researchers visited Earth in the centuries prior to humanity’s discovery of the Charon relay, and that they abducted and conducted experiments on humans, including several of his ancestors. The lawsuit alleges that Vigoda’s family members were targeted by salarians in abductions stretching back to the mid 1950s. In a statement today, the Salarian ambassador to the Systems Alliance said, “This lawsuit is preposterous. We didn’t know humans existed, and we didn’t know there was a mass relay in Sol. How could we have gotten to Earth?” Vigoda, meanwhile, swears that his claims are the truth: “Look at the Salarians. Look at their eyes. Their body shape. They’re an exact match to the description my family gave for the aliens that abducted them!” Alliance Beacon 03/09/11 -Salarian hostages safe on Sur’Kesh, details of release unclear The story of eight missing salarians taken hostage in the Afghan DMZ came to an abrupt and unexpected end today on the salarian homeworld Sur’Kesh. At a press conference held this morning at the headquarters of the salarian extranet channel Great Frontier, the missing salarians, taken hostage two weeks ago while filming a documentary on the troubled Earth region, announced that they were home, safe and unharmed. The leader of the crew, producer Ganto Thunba, read a statement saying “we thank the management here at Great Frontier, our viewers, and well-wishers around the galaxy for their support during this ordeal. And we especially thank the members of the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission in the Afghan DMZ for their tireless efforts to find us and bring us home to our world and our families.” Neither Thunba nor the other members of the film crew took questions, and Great Frontier’s spokesman refused to comment when asked for details of how the crew managed to escape from their captors. The salarians had been held hostage by the Afghan extremist group Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, but were apparently freed in an attack on a GEA base by unknown forces, resulting in the deaths of over 200 GEA insurgents and their leader, Abdul Abu Rahman. UN Peace Enforcement Mission spokesman Col. Jan de Groot refused to comment on details of any rescue operation. BBC Galactic Service 03/10/11 -Terra Firma protests Pallone-T’Dami wedding Alliance MP Jeffords Pallone married Glada T’Dami today on Elysium, at a ceremony that reportedly mixed human and Asari customs. Terra Firma protesters demonstrated outside the ceremony, and repeated their demand that Pallone step down from his position on the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. Matthew Auberger, a Terra Firma MP who represents Bekenstein, helped to organize the protests. In a speech to protestors, Auberger called for them to continue their fight, and reiterated his concern that Pallone “has divided loyalties” and “cannot be trusted to make decisions in the best interests of humanity.” Police had to separate Terra Firma protestors from counter protestors, who came out to demonstrate their support for Pallone. Said Derek Allen, organizer of the counter protests: “Matthew Auberger needs to go back to Bekenstein. The citizens of Elysium support Jeffords Pallone, and feel that he – and every other sentient being – has a right to live his personal life as he sees fit.” Alliance Beacon 03/11/11 -Raloi outcry interrupts opening night of Swan Lake Francis Kitt’s Swan Lake was the inspiration for a minor riot at the Citadel’s Reyanommond Auditorium last night. Due to the unfamiliar musical style, erotic choreography, and sparseness of the performers’ costumes, the visiting raloi diplomatic delegation believed that their people were being exploited at best, and mocked at worst. Quick action by C-Sec contained the disturbance but several patrons suffered minor injuries. Regarding the show itself, critic Nur Olan said, “Francis Kitt has produced a masterpiece. Using birds to play birds allowed him to design the choreography around the raloi’s unique physiology. It is a shame the performance will likely be remembered for the pandemonium it endured rather than the landmark it set in the art of performance.” 03/12/11 -Volus chairman suffers fatal heart attack Volus diplomat Bor Ivius was found dead in his apartment this morning. Ivious was a respected career diplomat who had been serving as chairman for a trade summit between the Vol Protectorate and the Salarian Union was discovered unconcious by his wife. Though medics were quick to arrive on the scene, they were unable to resuscitate him. Despite initial fears that a suit rupture may have lead to asphyxiation, later analysis confirmed Ivius had suffered a fatal heart attack. The impact the chairman’s death will have on negotiations with the Salarian Union is yet to be seen, but salarian representative Fileran Liodet made a statement claiming Ivius’s tireless work had “laid a solid foundation on which a mutually profitable agreement could be built.” March 2011 – Week Three 03/13/11 -Eden Prime video game bashed by critics The Truth of Eden Prime, the latest video game by the independent studio Ochkov Entertainment, has received lukewarm critical reception. Previously, producer Denis Ochkov mentioned that the idea to create a reconstruction of the geth raid on Eden Prime came to him after seeing what he described as “slanderous” news reports and documentaries. In The Truth, the player controls the soldiers of the 2nd Frontier Division of Eden Prime, defending the colony against geth invaders. While supposedly based on surviving security footage and witness reports, critics have noted that the game fails to accomplish the objectives set for it. With a subpar and unrealistic physics engine, highly biased in-game encyclopedia, rapid health regeneration, and poor enemy behavior scripts (the geth are often seen running in predictable straight lines from preset points, with no regard for cover or tactics), the game has been said to ironically undermine the very strive for historical accuracy that led to its creation in the first place. 03/14/11 -Research team to investigate anomalous gravity well A joint research group is leaving the Citadel today, bound for the Relic system. The privately funded team of salarians, humans and asari are conducting an extended research project centered around the infamous gas giant known as Preying Mouth. Feared for its immense gravity well, Preying Mouth has been called a “modern day Bermuda Triangle” by humanity for the scores of vessels that have been absorbed by the planet. “We know large planets tend to have equally large gravity wells,” says researcher Professor Jonah Foxx, “but why Preying Mouth has one that borders on black hole status is an honest mystery. Whether natural or artificial, we intend to find out.” The project will last at least three months, at which point the decision for an extension will be made based upon the team’s discoveries. 03/15/11 -Human clawball team joins turian league Clawball, a typically turian homogenous sport, has turned into a source of controversy when the Elysium Warhounds, a human team, announced that they would be participating alongside turian teams in the next galactic tournament. “Clawball has been played for hundreds of years, and it has been built to turian physical requirements, turian physiology and turian mindsets,” declared Aelus Seriae, manager of the Circia Annihilators. “They cannot play the game with our rules and our pace, and the only other alternative is that we water the game down to accommodate them. Neither option seems acceptable to me.” When asked what the team felt about the backlash, Warhound captain Michael Đurić had this to say: “We know that we might be at a disadvantage, but for us, playing in the tourney isn’t about whether or not we win or lose, it’s just because we love this game. We don’t want anyone to change the rules for us. We just want to play with those who play it best.” 03/16/11 -Tayseri Ward’s Spectre speaks FCC News correspondent Niklaus Westergaard held an impromptu interview with the Spectre now identified as Mira D’Rana late last night. The Spectre was eating dinner alone at an outdoor bistro on the Tayseri Ward when she was approached by the news crew. D’Rana dodged most of Westergaard’s attempts to learn more of her involvement in C-Sec’s ongoing attempts to curb crime on the Ward, but she eventually offered a statement: “C-Sec was handed a terrible situation. Maybe you forgot, but this Ward was nearly destroyed. Anywhere else in the galaxy after an attack the size of what the geth brought down on our heads, including all of our home worlds, the area would be under martial law for years. Maybe even decades. That didn’t happen here and you have C-Sec’s efforts to thank for that. They took a military-sized problem and have handled it admirably. The Ward has seen an immense reduction in crime since just last year. All I’ve done is ensure C-Sec can continue to fight the good fight without losing good men and women unnecessarily.” D’Rana would not comment on whether or not her work on the Tayseri Ward has reached its conclusion. 03/17/11 -Shanxi stock market shut down pending investigations The Securities Oversight Directorate of the human colony Shanxi announced it will be temporarily suspending all trading activity on the Shanxi Planetary Stock Exchange, pending an investigation into recent computer failures. Coinciding with Shanxi’s Liberation Day long weekend, the colony’s global stock exchange will remain closed for the next five local days. The announcement comes in the wake of last week’s “quantum meltdown,” a three hour period of crippling service disruptions on the SPSE quantum computer network that led to widespread investor panic. Despite official assurances from Directorate-General Walter Alvarez that the incident will be investigated with the utmost diligence, the announcement has only further undermined investor confidence throughout markets in neighboring system. The Huaxing Commercial Index closed today down 692.16 points, to a three year low of 5366.40. 03/18/11 -Leaked war scenarios derail turian/salarian trade talks Discussions over trade agreements between turian and salarian colony worlds have been disrupted by the revelation of turian military documents that detail hypothetical invasion strategies of salarian space. It appears that a bureaucratic snafu caused the classified documents to be released along with non-classified data during the recent training exercises conducted with the Alliance on Kruljaven. Reactions have been heated. “These war scenarios are a non-issue,” said trade representative Sorrus Calaren. “It is an open secret that the Hierarchy maintains up to date military strategies for all foreseeable conflicts. We expect no less from our allies. My salarian counterparts are merely trying to obfuscate matters.” In response, a salarian trade rep stated, “The existence of plans detailing the bombardment of Mannovai quickly becomes the real issue. Plans with that level of operational detail should not exist unless the perceived likelihood of conflict is significant.” 03/19/11 -Alliance military growing, but some question cost The Alliance Navy and Marine Corps continued their rapid growth this year. The Navy’s accelerated shipbuilding program shows no signs of slowing, with Alliance naval shipyards completing construction on 50 new ships, including the dreadnought SSV Krakatoa, the carrier SSV Sun Yat-sen, seven cruisers, and over 40 frigates, transports, and support vessels in the first quarter of 2186, in addition to 516 fighters and interceptors. The Alliance Marines matched this growth, activating the new 13th Frontier Division, with more than 25,000 Marines serving in infantry, armor, artillery, drone, and support units and its own attached air/space fighter wing. This expansion is not coming cheap. The Alliance spent more than 10 trillion credits last year on defense, not counting recruiting and retention bonuses for technical personnel, biotics, pilots, and front-line infantry soldiers paid out of emergency appropriations. Some members of the Alliance Parliament, particularly those representing Earth, are questioning the need for such a large military. Parliamentary Progressive Caucus chairman Dakota Feldblum said “My district has 15% unemployment, failing schools, and urgent social service needs. The Central African DMZ peacekeeping forces are woefully underfunded. The world’s transport and power infrastructures decay every day. And yet we’re spending trillions on galactic war machines? Don’t we have diplomats to settle conflicts before they start? Don’t the Terminus colonies want to be left alone anyway? No, this is just a pretext for grabbing more colonies and getting us into more senseless wars while Earth, our homeworld, dies from neglect.” Quorum Call Online March 2011 – Week Four 03/20/11 - Alliance MP Jeffords Pallone resigns Foreign Affairs post Alliance MP Jeffords Pallone announced today that he is resigning his position on the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, in response to repeated calls by supporters of the Terra Firma Party that he step down. In a recorded statement to his fellow MPs, Pallone stated his regret that his marriage to Glada T’Dami, an Asari professor of comparative politics, had become an issue. He reiterated his loyalty to the Alliance, and stated his wish to “move on from this current controversy, and continue serving the people of Elysium from a post on another committee.” Matthew Auberger, the Terra Firma MP who organized many of the protests against Pallone, stated that he was glad that Pallone had “come to his senses” and called for Terra Firma’s supporters to “stay vigilant in the face of those who would sell out human interests.” It is uncertain which committee Pallone will be reassigned to, though he will reportedly be in talks with leaders in Parliament following his honeymoon. Alliance Beacon 03/21/11 - Potential gang war looms over Omega Tensions are running high on the outlaw space station Omega, in the wake of a disaster that has the potential to ignite a new wave of gang violence. The crisis began when the crew of the bulk freighter Djakra Nox declared a propulsion failure and abandoned ship, leaving the vessel, and its cargo of eighteen hundred vorcha, reliant on VI control for its final approach to the Halycax docking spire. Tragedy ensued when the neighbouring Andrasha refinery, controlled by the Vanzar mercenary faction, opened fire on the Djakra Nox, destroying the vessel and sending wreckage crashing into the Halycax spire. Eclipse representatives later claimed to have detected anomalies in the freighter’s drive emissions which, left unchecked, would have caused a deteriorating course ending in collision with the refinery’s volatile prometheum tanks. The Blood Pack faction, who had contracted the Djakra Nox, subsequently accused the Vanzar of manufacturing the incident as an excuse to eliminate the cargo of vorcha, set to be attached to Blood Pack formations, and retaliated with a series of territorial incursions into Vanzar-held districts. The freighter’s crew have yet to be located. March 2011 – Week Five 03/29/11 - Tyran Heleptis expected to go hypernova within a year The recently discovered hyper giant Tyran Heleptis is, according to astronomers, reaching its final stages of life. It is expected to explode into a hypernova, an incredibly rare event believed only to occur in this galaxy every 200 million years. “We are all very excited to witness this phenomenon,” says Chief Scientist Rolhana Turvel of the Citadel Astronomy Coalition. “None of us would have believed that we would experience such an event in our lifetimes.” The star is far enough away that its explosion will not impact any colonized worlds, but the Citadel Travel Advisory Board is putting the Tyran sector off limits due to the deadly gamma ray bursts expected to occur when the star goes hypernova. The event is expected to be seen from as far away as Thessia. 03/30/11 - Candlelight vigil held on Terra Nova Today marks the five year anniversary of the mysterious death of the Parker family on Terra Nova. Before their unfortunate demise, the Parkers were an influential family in the world’s capital of Scott. Arthur and Marie Parker (ages 44 and 46, respectively) were both successful executives, their oldest daughter Eliza (age 21) was an up-and-coming model, and their son Matthew (age 19) was a student of law on a soccer scholarship at the prestigious Hawking University. The family went missing during a trip to the other side of the planet for vacation in the unsettled parts of the colony. Weeks later, their aircar was found crashed in the desert that belts the planet, with all inside dead. Though officially ruled as an accident, there have since been theories that the aircar was intentionally brought down, given the family’s local prestige. Further fueling these rumors is the fact that the bodies of Matthew and youngest child Ashley (age 12) were never found. No evidence has ever surfaced of foul play, but those attending the vigil have asked for the safe return of the two missing Parkers who would now be young adults. * Other stories about Parker Siblings: (Next - 02/12/13) 03/31/11 - Salarians celebrate Dalatrass Day Today is Dalatrass day, and salarians across the galaxy are celebrating and reconnecting with their mothers. Flower, candy, and jewelry retailers in salarian space are posting record sales. SE&C, the largest Union extranet access company, reported increasing its available voice and video bandwidth by 38% in anticipation of today’s flood of vidcalls and e-mails back to the salarian homeworlds. Most salarians who can make it home today spend a quiet evening with their dalatrasses and siblings. But a very special honor is reserved by the Salarian Union for the oldest surviving Dalatrass. 51-year old Ciffina Su’ntun, who lives in a nursing home on Jaëto and has held this title for the last three years, celebrated the day at a party organized by her 442 children, over one thousand grandchildren, and now 62 great-grandchildren, all of whom she knows by name. Ciffina attributes her longevity and good memory to daily exercise, frequent meditation, and a glass of ruxxia -– a salarian liquor -– every night before bed. Category:Cerberus Daily News Articles